(There are Spoilers) Powerful made for TV movie, one of the best ever, about facing the realities of dying at a very young age with everything and every dream you looked forward to dying along with you.
17 year-old Luke Muldenhower, Scott Vckaryous, had everything to look forward to in life. A sweet and caring girlfriend Juile Ellis, Katie Gratson,a football scholarship at the state collage and most off all a long life ahead of him. This all came crashing down on Luke when after suffering a number of fainting spells he's diagnosed with having Hodgkin's Lymphoma; cancer of the lymph nodes.
Put under chemotherapy for some six weeks Luke at first seems to have recovered with his cancer that is reported by his physician Dr. Sanchez, Teryl Rothery,in full remission. It's only later where the deadly disease reappears with a fury, creating a deadly tumor in Luke's chest, that all bets are off in his recovery. For a while everything couldn't have been better for Luke with him now back in school and on the football team as well as back with his girl Julie and planning their future as a married couple. That was all shattered in the blink of an eye and the click of an x-ray machine that showed Luke was now in danger of dying if he didn't get a bone morrow donor and fast before the cancer in his lymph nodes overwhelmed him.
Intelligent touching and realistic drama of what it is to face the death of a loved one who's life is slowly, and painfully, being taken away from him. Luke who at first was inseparable form his beloved Julie Ellis soon realized that her caring or, as Luke put it, feeling sorry for him was the worst thing that Julie could do. Trying to get Julie to realize the truth, that he's doomed to die, has her almost suffer a complete emotional breakdown. It's later that Luke realizes that his treatment of Julie would only hurt not help her in the matter of his eventual death that Luke lets his feeling for her, far more then himself, come out. This made the ending of the film, despite how depressing it was, a lot easier to take for not only Julie but Luke's widowed mom, Adrenne Barbeau, as well as Julie's parents and all his friends in and out of Vincent Collins High School.
The movie "A Champion's Fight" or "Shattered Hearts" didn't linger on about what Luke as well as his friends and family went through his, as well as their, ordeal. We see Luke going through the painful stages of cancer treatment and how his courageous response to them not only strengthened him but those around Luke who were pulling for him to survive.
It was a double tragedy for Julie, as well as Luke's mom Mrs. Muldenhower, in what they went trough sacrificing their job, in Mrs. Muldenhowers case, and collage career, on Julie's part, in standing by Luke when it was obvious and a forgone conclusion that he wouldn't pull through. This despite all the state of the art cancer treatment, through Luke's mom's medical insurance, he was getting. ****SPOILER**** It later came out that Luke had indeed a bone marrow donor before he was put under chemotherapy only to reject it and hope that the therapy would be successful before he's treated with it. Luke sadly never recovered despite all the top notch treatment he was getting and died before the bone marrow, which was already available for Luke, could possibly save him.
In the end Julie was not left alone as she thought that she would be in losing Luke but became a far better person in having both known and loved him. Not wanting to continue with her life with Luke no longer around Julie finally saw what Luke meant in wanting her to free herself from him. It wasn't that Luke, knowing that he doesn't have long to go, didn't love Julie he in fact love her even more. All Luke wanted was for Julie to go on with her life and not ruin it, as well as any new love that came into her life, by being fixated on him even after he was no longer around.
It was that lesson that not only Luke but Julie's mom Mrs. Patricia Ellis, Beth Broaderick, thought her that got Juile through the pain and suffering over Luke's death. That very important lesson also made a better stronger, in her being able to face the future, and loving person out of Julie as well.
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